Restaurants in Carteret

Exquisite Lizard keeps motors running until midnight all week with creative burgers, meat-filled sandwiches, and pasta swimming in creamy sauces. Flatware-less fare, ranging from french-bread pizza to boneless buffalo wings, refuels patrons in between rounds of pool and darts, or two-handed diners can heave the Mega burger, with its chapeau of sautéed mushrooms and onions, toward awaiting taste buds. A frothy slate of draft beers, including Blue Moon and Samuel Adams, extinguish mouth fires while patrons root for their favorite baseball player or congressional witness from a quartet of television screens.

Pitas wrap their soft shells around crispy falafel, whose sizzling heat is quickly extinguished by creamy dollops of hummus. Sharp skewers gather marinated cubes of beef and lamb, holding them captive over charcoal grills. Each of these dishes emerges from Karam Restaurant’s Lebanon-inspired kitchens alongside a slate of spinach pies, stuffed peppers, grape-leaf sandwiches, and grilled cuts of shawarma. Comestibles can be enjoyed in-house, or toted away via take-out or delivery for at-home savoring or to utilize in all-pita performances of The Epic of Gilgamesh.

Named for a type of plane tree with a broad, sprawling crown, Chinar on the Island shelters diners in a space designed to look like a breezy Mediterranean courtyard. Sandstone archways and clusters of palms surround diners as they tuck into appetizers, such as fresh mussels and saffron shrimp, or point out which of the clouds painted on the ceiling are shaped most like fried calamari.

For the main meal, shareable kebab plates skewer grilled meats and veggies, and pilaf dishes steam tender rice with spices and vegetables in a tangine, or earthenware pot. Hearty traditional dishes, such as roast quail or lamb slow-cooked on the bone, can fill bellies or weigh down brass display vessels commandeered for impromptu rounds of shot put.

Tradition takes an experimental turn at Ngi Japanese Fusion, where chefs have set Japanese staples alongside jicama, ravioli, chowder, brandy butter sauce, crab bisque, and other creative fixings. Using fresh, organic ingredients and seafood that's delivered daily, they turn out filets and curry pots and craft exotic maki rolls with sweet potato tempura, asparagus, avocado, salmon, shrimp, and crab. The restaurant's contemporary space beautifully complements the chef's efforts—slick white seating, dark wood tables, a tiled bar glowing with neon blue lights, and glimmering silver tassels dangling between booths all give the décor a futuristic flare and diners a conversation starter as they sneak bites from other tables' plates.

Chock full o’Nuts traces its history to 1926 when William Black opened his first nut shop, which eventually expanded to a chain of coffee shops boasting gourmet caffeinated brews, freshly baked goods, and sandwiches. Patrons sip from blends such as 100% colombian and french roast while munching on history with the Chock Classic, a cream-cheese-and-date-nut bread confection sweeter than a baby panda scaling a mountain of sugar. Sandwiches and wraps placate heartier appetites, and smoothies, iced beverages, and hot specialty drinks pour into cups with ambrosial panache.